foreign exchange daughter

Hi, My daughter (almost 17) has been selected to be a foreign exchange student to Germany. She is very excited about it. She has been waiting since Christmas to find out. I am getting her a new camera for all the neat stuff she'll she and do while she is there. Do they have scrapbook stores in Germany? She says she wants to keep a book of everything that happens, since this is such a big event. (She'll be gone 11 months. Yes, I will miss her terribly. Let's not talk about that, ok?) Should I send her off with some supplies? A journal maybe? There are some really cool Germany stickers at my LSS. Maybe I should get her a couple of those and tuck them inside her suitcase for later? star2fire

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Reply to
star2fire
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Reply to
Tribear

First, tell her congratulations! I know the selection process for this is very tough. Second, and this is JMHO, I wouldn't send her with supplies. Let her take the pictures while she is gone, but save the scrapping for when she returns (unless she's an addict like us! LOL). I would rather have more time to do more things while in another country than to stop and scrap some of what I've done. Does that make sense?

Cecelia

Reply to
Cecelia Medbery

on long trips, give her a bunch of manilla envelopes and a journal... she can put momentos in the envelopes and include the journaling and photos, month by month.. organizing them by even as she goes.. makes it easy to scrap when she gets back and she doesn't lose postcards and ticket stubs..

Reply to
burnerbabe

How exciting! My oldest daughter spent a year in Paris and it was a learning experience for us all. She kept a journal and took lots of pictires, sending to us on a regular basis. It let us enjoy the things she enjoyed and kept us in touch. I got her a calling card (just for our number) and we agreed on a specific time and day. (time differences made it a little difficult. our call came in at 7 a.m. but it was afternoon there) AS for missing her, well the family she stayed with invited me over for a week when they all had vacation and I went!! It was wonderful. I have a great scrapbook with all of my adventures. We took advantage and went to London for a few days as well. We also spent a day at Versailes. I love my layout of that day. Some day when I get the capabilities of showing my albums,I will post that layout. It is one of my favorites. I wish her good luck and hope she has a wonderful time!! Hugs,

Sabrina :-)

Reply to
Sabrina

I think that is great, I always wanted to be one, and now I want to have one in my home eventually... I think you should get a journal, so maybe she can just keep track of her events and stuff to do the album at home... JMO..

Reply to
Tab

Make sure she mails you from Germany, that way you have german stamps and also use the envelopes as part of the album.

Try making a list of the things she wants to take pictures of, or bring back from there (in the style of a shot list for a wedding photographer). You can even add to the list things that *you* want ;)

And of course, POSTCARDS. I dont know about you but I'm crazy about them. I like to buy (all of them of course) but specially the ones with shots that I can't get with my camera.

I agree with the ppl who have said she should scrap once she gets back home. Your daughter will probably agree with us once she gets settled in Germany ;)

One more thing. There lots of cute boys there. I should know that because my DH's family is from Erfurt, Germany =) That would explain the last name Kuehm.

I wish your daughter the best.

Reply to
Angietex

LOL! I can't tell you all how helpful your suggestions have been. She says she wants to take an album with her, just in case, but I agree with you, she probably won't scrap once she gets settled in. She isn't totally into it, but she's starting to be interesting in keeping her trip memories. Before now she hasn't had too much that she thought was inspiring enough to scrap about and she thought I was kind of nutz for falling in love with the hobby, but she's changing her mind about that. And as for the cute boys... I'm afraid of that. I don't want her to fall in love and not come home. Whatever happens, we just want it to be God's will for our lives. I have given her roots. Now I have to give her wings. star2fire

Reply to
star2fire

Awww. your last line got me! I have been sensitive BAD lately and it got me.... sniff sniff.....

Reply to
Tab

From personal experience (6 months in NZ), I would suggest that she do the scrappin' once she gets home. The weight of the scrappin' supplies and book, etc can add up fast. In my case, I didn't have the photos to scrap. Once I got them developed and had a look, I sent them to my parents to see, and they kept them all together for when I got back.

I think keeping a good detailed journal is a good idea. I'm glad I kept a journal. When I read it now it's hard to believe how much I've forgotten.

Angie is right about postcards...sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate when you're touring and it's tough to get a good shot, but postcards usually have the perfect shot :) It might be a good idea to save brochures and maps from the places she visits too. I saved everything, school reports (I was in 7th form when I was there), bus route schedules, photos of friends and events I attended, stamps, coins...everything... to help me remember what I did.

Something I didn't do that I wish I would have was pick up some scrappin' stuff made for the local market. It might be easier to find stuff for Germany in Germany than it is here.

In addition to writing everything in a journal, tell her to take LOTS of photos. I was glad I had my camera in my hand as soon as I got off the plane. Just the car trip from the airport to my host family's home offered many interesting shots and it helped me remember my very first impression of Auckland. Even so, there are things I wish I would have gotten photos of but didn't, like of the presentation I made to the school before I came back to Canada.

One other thing...she might want to keep track of anything you send to her. One of the best memories from my trip was the Oreos my Mom airmailed to me. They didn't have Oreos in NZ when I was there...those cookies were worth about $2.50 per cookie by the time they got there. LOL Best Oreos I've ever tasted.

That reminds me...food is another thing. I have a stack of recipies from my trip. Now if I could just get them to import L&P to Canada, I'd be set. lol

Wish her luck and a safe trip for me. I'm sure she'll have a blast : )

Kellar - who's in the process of re-doing his NZ book 'cuz he didn't know about acid free stuff when he did it the first time.

Reply to
Kellar

they've got dry L&P now. if you want anything from NZ Kellar, let me know and i'll see what i can do. :)

Reply to
Yvonne

dry L&P?!?!

Reply to
Kellar

lol. i don't like L&P and i think the dry L&P ads were so dumb.

Reply to
Yvonne

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